1. A brief presentation of the main South Asia collections in French libraries
Dr. Rachel Guidoni (Mrs.), Head Librarian,
French School of Asian Studies (Paris, France)

2. The first French School dedicated to Eastern languages and civilisations
Source:

3. The school today The building was inaugurated in 2011.
The upper part of the building houses the school
The lower part is for the library.
Source:

4. The Collège de France, founded in 1530
The motto of
the institution :
« Teaches all »
Source:

5. The main French libraries with South Asia collections
National library of France (Bibliothèque nationale)
French School of Asian studies (Ecole française d’Extrême- Orient)
Asian society (Société Asiatique)
Centre for South Asian studies (Centre d’études de l’Inde et de l’Asie du Sud)
Éric-de-Dampierre library
Centre for Himalayan studies (Centre d’études himalayennes)

6. Location of the main Paris libraries with South Asian collections

7. Why this presentation? Improve the knowledge of these collections
Value these collections both to the Indian scientific community and to the librarians’ network
Create tighter connection between French institutions and Indian libraries
Promote a broader choice of patrimonial and contemporary collections on South Asia

8. The BULAC library
Core collection: linguistics, literature, travels accounts, geography and history, social and religious sciences
South Asia section : rich collections in Bengali, Hindi, Tamil, and Urdu languages
Digital library: a dozen of books from the Fort William College

9. A book from the Fort William College
Polyglott Munshi, or vocabulary,
exercises, pleasant stories, etc. in English, Persian, Hindi, Hindustani and Bengali, for the use of students both native and European, Calcutta, 1841
Source: num.bulac.fr/archive/files/a36d5a9d310503b7c2280d568019a0e0.pdf

10. The South Asia collection in the Bulac library
Hindi (and Nepali) section: more than books
Bengali section: books and a dozen of periodicals
Urdu section: books and 40 periodicals
Tamil section: more than books and a collection of manuscripts

11. A pioneer catalogue for the scripts
Urdu
Tamil

12. Hindi
Nepali

13. The Institute of Indian Studies
Founded in 1927; part of the Collège de France since 1973
Domain: the whole ancient Indian world, mostly Pre-Islamic India
Subjects: literature, philosophy, history, history of religions, linguistics and grammar, art history and archaeology
→ one of the richest collections in France on Sanskrit literature and ancient Indian languages

14. The Institute of Indian Studies
Local catalogue: bude.college-de-france.fr
Digital library: some manuscripts and pictures (salamandre.college-de-france.fr)
Core collection: books, 600 periodicals, maps, more than 100 manuscripts, archives and about pictures

15. The Pakistan photo collection
Source: salamandre.college-de-france.fr/ead.html?id=FR075CDF_00IEI00PK-2#!{%22content%22:[%22FR075CDF_00IEI00PK-2_de-901%22,false,%22%22]}

16. The Kabul museum photo collection
Source: salamandre.college-de-france.fr/ead.html?id=FR075CDF_IEI_arbois#!{%22content%22:[%22FR075CDF_IEI_arbois_de-38%22,false,%22%22]}

17. A Nepali manuscript from the S. Lévi collection
Devatāparipūrṇam,
19th Century,
bookmark: MS-SL 69
Source: salamandre.college-de-france.fr/img-viewer/IEI-SL/MS-SL-69/viewer.html

18. The National Library of France
South Asia section since the 18th century
Subjects: literature, religion and history
Core collection: books, with 1/3 in Indian languages, more than 100 periodicals
Online catalogue: catalogue.bnf.fr

19. A bibliographical record with Devanagari script in the BnF catalogue
Source: catalogue.bnf.fr/servlet/biblio?idNoeud=1&ID= &SN1=0&SN2=0&host=catalogue

20. A digitized document in Gallica
Source: gallica.bnf.fr/ark:/12148/btv1b w.r=pondichery.langFR

21. The digitized catalogue of the Sanskrit collection at the Bnf
Source: gallica.bnf.fr/ark:/12148/bpt6k255707s/f80.image

22. The French School of Asian Studies
Founded in 1901
Core collection: 21 000 books, 133 periodicals, more than 120 Pali manuscripts, 100 maps, rubbings, scientific archives, about pictures
Mss Pali 40

23. The French School of Asian Studies
Domain: all the South Asia, including also Tibet
Subjects: mainly classical studies: religion, art, archaeology, epigraphy, ancient history, literature and textual studies
Online catalogue: and catalogue.bulac.fr

24. The French School of Asian Studies
A Nepali (?)
rubbing
Bouddha
Sakyamuni
(D71-8)

25. The EFEO Centre in Pondicherry
books, 21 periodicals, a great collection of private libraries, scientific archives of French Indianists, rubbings and plans
Photo S. Rayapoulle

26. The EFEO Centre in Pondicherry
More than 1 600 Vishnuit manuscripts, digitized and soon available online
A photo library with old collections and a more recent collection on South Asian temples, soon available online
Photo S. Rayapoulle

27. Library of the Asian society
Founded in 1822
Edits the famous periodical Journal Asiatique
Core collection: 100 000 books, 1 800 periodicals, manuscripts, rubbings and off-prints, pictures and scientific archives. 20% concerns India
Source:

28. Centre for South Asian studies
Founded in 1955
Presently the biggest French collection of books and periodicals on South Asia for the modern and contemporary periods
The Maison de l’Asie’s reading room

29. Centre for South Asian studies
Core collection: 30 000 books, 450 periodicals, scientific archives, census, maps
Domain: India, Pakistan, Bangladesh, Nepal, Sri Lanka, Maldives Islands, and Mauritius
Subjects: social sciences, social anthropology, law, history of economic development, and religious sciences

30. Éric-de-Dampierre library
Founded in 1967
Specialised in anthropology and sociology
2 600 books on South Asia: Afghanistan, Bangladesh, Bhutan, India, Maldives Islands, Nepal, Pakistan, Sri Lanka, Burma, and Tibet
Source:
Entry of the reading room

31. The archives of Philippe Sagant
Table of
his archives
One of his book

32. The archives of O. Herrenschmidt
Source:
spip.php?article78
Source:

33. Centre for Himalayan studies
Founded in 1965
First focused on Nepal and on anthropology, geography and biology
Photo O. Aubriot

34. Centre for Himalayan studies
Covers now all the other Himalayas regions: Tibet, Bhutan, Sikkim and the North Indian States
And includes other subjects such as geology, environmental studies, agronomy, history, economics, politics, languages, arts
15 000 books, theses, reports and off-prints, maps and 800 periodicals

35. Thank you for your attention!
આભાર
তোমাকে ধন্যবাদ
ਤੁਹਾਡਾ ਧੰਨਵਾਦ
ధన్యవాదాలు
Thank you for your attention!
Merci beaucoup !
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धन्यवाद
آپ کا شکریہ
तुझे उपकार मानतो
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